“It will be my ability to get each subject, quietly and secretly, to unleash their creative powers, and in so doing, liberate them from their normal inhibitions, and into a state of trust, openness, and creative frenzy.”

UNTITLED, 1982. An inventive living tableau created by American visionary artist Steven Arnold.

“Nowadays, in our cities of steel, we still haven’t lost our need for ancient ritual. Our dances with masks and drum are alive in our bones. We are witch-doctors in designer jeans. The same sexual impulses rule our buying power, claw at our self-illusion. We get high, on whatever, and tune into our instinctual selves. We seek guides, need teachings. As we accumulate, we share, and thus we grow. The more evolved our sharing, the richer our growth.

ALTHEA AT 13 WITH KUSKA, WHO ALWAYS WEARS HIS LITTLE CROWN. Steven Arnold borrowed the monkey in this tableau from window dresser and fashion enthusiast Simon Doonan.

“The images in Steven’s work cover the broadest possible range, from the commonplace to the most arcane. You will find a teaspoon, you will find a skull. There are drag-queens and Gods, fishes and angels, nudes and fools; trivia mingles with idealism, esoterica with kitch. He wants you to have a good time, he wants you to be transformed forever, he wants to trouble and amuse you, poke fun at you and put you in a sweat, he wants you to feel wonderful and we are all invited to the party he’s giving in heaven. Black tie optional: you might prefer yourself in polka dots and globs of golden goo.”

An example of the early psychedelic rock handbills which Steven Arnold created for the famed Matrix nightclub in San Francisco’s Fillmore District beginning in mid-1967. Arnold was among the very first psychedelic handbill artists in the city.

” I believe it was Steven who actually initiated hippie dress in San Francisco, before it was fashionable.”

Steven Arnold began the series from which this example is drawn in late 1974, shortly after his return from Spain, where he worked with Salvador Dali on the completion of his Theatre-Museum in Figueres. To see more of this series, and other examples of Arnold’s art, visit our GALLERY page.